June 2008

June 30, 2008

I think I am going to have to move! LOL!!! I was born and raised in Monterey California with street lights, sidewalks, neighbors and the NASTIEST bug I can remember is what we referred to as a Potato Bug. They were UGLY and lived in the dirt so the best thing to do was to not dig in the dirt ~ problem solved! I now live in Virginia and have lived here now for 15 years!!! I have experienced a Coyote grabbing one of my chickens right in front of me, bobcats, foxes, Black SNAKES (lots of these), huge snapping turtles, being attacked by barn swallows IN MY OWN BARN!, river otters, being attacked by my rooster (may he rest in peace), a hawk killing one of my chickens and then ME learning to load and unload the shotgun so I can protect my kids and animals!!! OMG, what has become of me!! LOL!!! What brings me to mention my moving (just kidding of course) announcement all started on Saturday when I ran in to town. It all started innocent enough and when I was about 4 miles from my house (I live in a very rural area) I look and right on the side of the road is a very large black bear! No, it was not dead, it was standing there waiting to cross the road!!! As I was sitting in the middle of the road trying figure out why I lived here, the bear very leisurely walks across the road to the driveway of the only house in the area. It actually was exciting by scary too!!! I am sure there will come a time that we have one on our property..... Then, this morning there was a SNAKE in our pool!!! The kids and I were busy retrieving the frogs from the pool and then I look and there was a snake!!!! Mary started crying and telling me that she is NEVER going in the pool again, Joey, my hero, was telling me to get it out, get it out!!!! LOL!!! As I was getting ready to fish it out, I thought we better check to make sure it wasn't a Copperhead because if it was, I would need to kill it!!! Oh fun..... It wasn't a Copperhead so it was safely released back in to the wild!!! And to think I used to dress pretty nicely, had my nails done and actually wore jewelry!!!! Not anymore! I wear jeans, shorts and t-shirts, don't wear jewelry ~ why? do the animals care?? and nails, what nails?!?!? LOL!!! OK, sorry, went off track for a minute there!!! I made this card for my Dad's Birthday that is coming up soon! The base of my card is Chocolate Chip cardstock with first a mat of River Rock cardstock and then THIS beautiful decorative paper from Memory Box ~ called Grove. The next vertical mat is first Chocolate Chip and then the same decorative paper. The horizontal piece is first matted on River Rock cardstock and then another piece of decorative paper from the same paper pack. I stamped the Inkadinkado ~ Three in a Tree stamp was stamped on Cryogen White cardstock using Chocolate Chip ink. I colored using my Prismacolor Pencils and Mellow Moss & River Rock ink pads and blender pen. The ribbon is from May Arts and was taped (Scotch) under the image and then taped to the back of the horizontal strip. I then took a small piece of ribbon, punched a hole in the side of image and tied a knot on that side. The Inkadinkado Happy Birthday sentiment (Lindsey is sold out of this one!) was stamped using Chocolate Chip ink directly on to the decorative paper.

I'll be back tomorrow with my card for Jacksonbelle's Design Team Tuesday challenge! Thank you for stopping by!

June 29, 2008

Hi!I haven't felt like stamping anything new today (I know, the horror!!) so I will show you the invitations I have made for my daughter's 8th birthday! Let me begin by saying that my son, Joey, doesn't like to have birthday parties and NEVER has so I thought, well at I have a chance with Mary!!! We can do princess things with lots of glitter and bling....WELL......my daughter is a tomboy! I WAS totally a tomboy but I still played with dolls and LOVED girly things! Mary does like girly things but DOES NOT and has never liked dolls. I am not sure if that stems from the fact that since we live in the middle of no~where, her only "local" playmate is her older brother???? LOL!!! She does want a pink watch and a pink birthday cake for her birthday though!!! LOL!!! Here is the invitation ~

The cardstock is Chocolate Chip and I ran it through my Cuttlebug (can't remember the name of the folder) to get the texture. I used one of my Creative Memories Circle cutter plastic template part to make the template for this. The oval cutter didn't look enough like a football!!! If it did, it would have made it all much easier. I made my own template and then traced it on to the folded (4 1/4" X 5 1/2") Chocolate Chip folded card. I hung the top part of the template over the top of the card (the scored end). I then used a pencil to trace the football. After I traced it, I cut both the top and bottom of the card. I then ran the front flap in through the Cuttlebug using the square embossing folder. Again, I used my Creative Memories Circle cutter, Whisper White cardstock and then cut the side pieces. I used Karen Foster White Scrappers floss for the top threads. I cut 2 small pieces of the floss and glued them down and then took my needle, made the holes to pull the floss through, threaded the needle with the scrapper's floss and then sewed! SUPER easy!!!

Here is a picture of the inside ~I printed the party information on to Whisper White cardstock and cut it out using my oval, Creative Memories cutter. I did add a little girly bling. Just had to!!! These would be great for Father's Day or a masculine birthday card! They were really easy to make. If you need additional information, please don't hesitate to ask!!!

June 28, 2008

We've been teasing you a little bit this week about some exciting news
for this week's challenge. We're so pleased to announce that Lindsey
Botkin of Jacksonbelle Embellishments
will be awarding a $15 gift certificate to one lucky winner from this
week's challenge participants. Ordinarily, there's no time limit on our
challenges, but this week, to be entered into the drawing, you must
have your project linked up HERE in the comments section by 12 noon
Eastern Time on Friday, July 4. We'll draw a random name from the
entries and announce the winner on Saturday, July 5, along with our
next challenge. Sound fun?!?!? Now, on to the challenge!

This weeks challenge is to use ANY OLD Basic Grey papers! Now, OCC does not have any challenge police so if you DO want to use NEW Basic Grey paper, you won't get in trouble or be disqualified from winning the gift certificate!!!! We're pretty easy to get along with huh??? Well, here is my card ~

The base of my card is 5 1/4" square and is Chocolate Chip cardstock. The next mat is a blue from Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding. The next polka dot mat is also from the same collection. The photo corner punch is from SU! and the bottom brown piece is from Figgy as was the top decorative corner. The strip across the middle is first the brown and then white papers from Figgy. I stamped the BRAND NEW Inkadinkado Silhouette Deer Trail on the white strip and again on another piece of the same white using Chocolate Chip ink. The reindeer has just been released and Lindsey will be getting it in her store early next week so if you are interested, send her an email to reserve yours! I used my Oval Nestabilities to cut the oval for the deer and then cut a larger oval from the brown Figgy paper to mat it. I then lined it up so the flourish trail would look continuous from the deer in the oval and then cut my white strip to fit on the front of the card. I matted this with first the brown and then the blue which I punched one edge using my Martha Stewart border punch. I colored some of the snowflake/flowers using my Cool Caribbean ink pad and a blender pen. I added clear MAMBI rhinestones all over this card!!! I mounted the deer on top of the strip using dimensionals. The sentiment is from Fancy Flexible Phrases and was stamped on the white Figgy paper using Chocolate Chip ink. I punched this using my small oval punch and then matted it on the brown Figgy paper and cut a mat with my scissors. I then matted both of these on the decorative oval I punched using the large oval punch. I added a small snowflake punched from the blue and added a clear rhinestones because I didn't have enough bling on this card!!! LOL!!!

June 26, 2008

Hi again!Here is my card for todays Ways to Use it challenge at SCS. The challenge was to use a bird stamp! That's easy enough! The layout is from yesterdays sketch challenge. Here is my card ~
The base of my card is 5 1/4" square Chocolate Chip cardstock. The next mat is Whisper White and then a pattern from SEI's new Dill Collection. All of the decorative paper squares are also from the Dill paper collection. I punched the patterned squares using my 1 1/4" square punch and then matted each one on Whisper White cardstock and then again on a brown from the Dill collection. The focal image is from Inkadinkado and is called Three to a Tree. I stamped the image on Whisper White cardstock using Chocolate Chip ink. I then colored using my Prismacolor Pencils. I then punched a hole using my horizontal slot punch and then added wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon. I mounted this using dimensionals on top of the same brown that I matted all the squares on and then used dimensionals again and mounted both pieces on top of the Coral paper (also included in the Dill pack).

Just a quick announcement... This Saturday Our Creative Cornerhas a fun challenge planned PLUS some goodies to go along with it. Are you intrigued???? Be sure to stop by here or the OCC blog first thing Saturday morning!!!!

Good Morning!Today is our weekly Mothers and Daughters Creations design team challenge. This weeks challenge was to go to Pagemaps, find a card sketch and make a card using it!!! Because of my computer problems, I was not able to access Pagemaps but luckily I did have some sketches from them that I had printed back in March. Here is my card ~ The base of my card is 5 1/4" square and is Cameo Coral carstock. The next mat is Whisper White, then Basic Black. The next mat is Bo Bunny decorative paper called Honeysuckle and is from their Organic line. I the used my Fiskars border punch to punch a Whisper White mat. The next mat in the center is Basic Black and then topped off with coordinating Bo Bunny cardstock. The ribbon is also Bo Bunny and can be found HERE. The sentiment is an old SU! set called Riveting and was stamped using Basic Black on Whisper White cardstock. I punched the center flower out and popped it up in the center of the sentiment using a dimensional. I matted the sentiment on a Basic Black circle punched from my 1 3/8 circle punch. The green crystal is from Targets $ spot and all of the black rhinestones are from Prima and can be found HERE!

The focal image was stamped 2 times using Basic Black ink on Whisper White cardstock. The image is from Outlines and was colored using my Prismacolor Pencils. I cut the center butterfly out of the second stamped image and first laid it on top of the second image, added the Bo Bunny rub on and then gently separated them and then mounted the first frame directly on top of the cardstock lined up with the rub on and then popped up the center butterfly using dimensionals.

Be sure to check out what awesome creations my team members have come up with!

June 24, 2008

I can’t believe it is already Tuesday again and you know
what that means…..Jacksonbelle’s Tuesday DT Challenge.Today’s challenge was to use ANY products from
Lindsey’s store.Easy enough!!I decided to use my Prima ~ Urban Cosmos
paper and my new Inkadinkado Duet stamp.

Here is my card ~

The base of my card is Cryogen White Shimmery
cardstock.The first mat is Chocolate
Chip and then So Saffron.Both patterns
of the decorative paper I used is from the Prima Urban Cosmos collection.I matted them both with Chocolate Chip
cardstock.The focal image is from
Inkadinkado and is called Duet.I
stamped it on Cryogen White Shimmery cardstock using Chocolate Chip ink.I then colored using my Prismacolor pencils ~
as usual!If you didn’t know it yet, I
must tell you that I LOVE those pencils!!!I added a couple of small Prima flowers and then added MAMBI pink self
adhesive rhinestones.I then pierced
around each mat using my paper piercer and mat pack.The last step was to add the most beautiful
May Arts organdy ribbon with gold trim and then a small piece of Saffron ribbon
from SU!.

My computer STILL isn’t fixed in fact, the fix Verizon sent
us, locked us out of the system completely!!At least before it was in and out!Now, it is just out! LOL!! So
frustrating but my kids and I are pretty happy to get to go to Panera for
breakfast AND upload my card!!! LOL!!!

June 23, 2008

Hi All!I am sorry that I don't have a card to share with you today! Actually, I do have a card but I can't upload to my blog ~ YET!!!! It should be fixed today so I should be back in business just in time for tomorrows Jacksonbelle Tuesday Challenge!

First off, anyone who reads my blog that lives in Virginia might be interested in this....My friend Lisa and her Fredericksburg Alumnae Chapter of Tri Delta is having their annual crop on August 16th! This event has grown amazingly over the past 2 years. It has gotten so big that this year, they had to get a larger space to hold everyone! It will be held in a vacant store in Central Park. There will be SO much food, fun, raffles and some amazing auction items. There is enough seating for 72 people!!! Here are the rest of the details ~

*The proceeds from the crop will be donated to St. Jude

*The crop is 17 hours!!! 8am to 1am although you certainly don't have to be there all of those hours!

*The cost is $40 per person. This fee includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks!

If you are interested in attending, let me know and I will refer you on to Lisa and she can get you all set up!

This is the most important request ~ I really would appreciate your help on this part!!! If you have ANY full card(s) that you would be willing to donate, I would SO appreciate it!!! When the girls send the HUGE donation to St. Jude, they would LOVE to include cards that the sick kids can use to send to friends, family, etc.... throughout the year. These cards can be for any occasion! Tri Delta will provide the envelopes so you wouldn't need to donate those and if you need assistance with postage, they would be willing to pay the postage to get the cards! If you are interested in donating, please email me and I will get you the address to mail the card(s) to.

Thank you all so much and hopefully I will be back later with my daughters birthday invitations I made over the weekend!

June 21, 2008

Good Saturday Morning!!!!Are you all ready for our SECOND OCC challenge?? I hope so!!! I am still having computer problems and hope that our new modem will be delivered Monday so until then, bear with me.... Today's challenge has again been hosted by our own Cindy Haffner! The challenge today is to use Buttons AND Brads!! Notice there is no OR included in that challenge!!! LOL!!! I thought it would be so easy but you know, I had a tough time using the 2 together so, THAT is why it is called a CHALLENGE!!!! Feel free to CASE any our our layouts should you need to! You can see the my teammates inspiration HERE! When you upload to SCS, please remember to include OCCC in the keywords section. I also want to thank those of you who played using our sketch challenge last week!!! We had a GREAT response and are SO appreciative! Remember, you can play any of these challenges at ANY time but just be sure to use the keyword so we can all see what you have made! Here is my card based on today's challenge~

I don't know if I have mentioned this before but I am TOTALLY flower impaired on a card! I can add flowers with no problem on a scrapbook page but a card, I am at a loss so I MADE myself use flowers for this challenge because I knew I could include the button(s) and brads! I actually still feel flower impaired and am not sure about the HUGE blossom on the bottom right but it was too late to change it!!! LOL!!!

Here are the deets! The base of my card is Basic Black with first a thin mat of Whisper White and then River Rock which I embossed using my Birds & Swirls embossing folder. The next mat is Basic Black and then a panel of River Rock decorative paper from the retired Holiday Thyme paper pack. I used my French Script and stamped right on top of the decorative paper using Basic Black ink. No, you are not dizzy ~ I stamped the French Script crooked!! LOL!!! I wish I could say it was on purpose but no, it wasn't!!! LOL!!! I then stamped my bird from Touch of Nature (I did much better stamping the bird ~ not crooked!) using Basic Black ink. I stamped the image again on Whisper White cardstock again using Basic Black ink. I colored the bird using my Soft Sky ink pad and a blender pen, cut it out and mounted it on top of the first stamped bird using dimensionals. I colored the leaves using River Rock ink and a blender pen and cut them out as well and mounted them using dimensionals. I colored the branch using a blender pen and River Rock ink. HERE is a close~up of the bird and leaves ~

All of the white flowers are from the SU! Pretties kit. The 2 black "flowers" are actually 2 different sizes of circle Nestabilities that I punched and the cut to look like petals. The flowers with the black swirls are from Prima. The black and silver brads are by Imaginisce, the clear button is from SU! and the black lace is from Rusty Pickle.

June 19, 2008

Yesterday's design team challenge at Mothers and Daughters Creations was to use the new Imaginisce papers from the Baby Powder collection. I am late in posting, obviously and have actually had to take my laptop to Panera and use their Wi-Fi in order to get my posts done for this challenge as well as tomorrows OCC challenge post! Pretty sad huh??? I should receive my new modem by Monday. Anyway, in the mean time, here is my card ~The base of my card is Chocolate Chip and then a mat of Poison Ivory cardstock and the the green from this piece of paper HERE. The top pink polka dot piece is HERE and the next strip with the words on it is actually the back side of the polka dot piece. I matted the word strip on Chocolate Chip and cut the bottom using my Martha Stewart Scallop punch/embosser. I added small pearls to each flower and you can fine those HERE.

Both ribbons are from Michael's and the top tab was made using my SU! punch and then just layering the same decorative papers I used on the card and added a small Chocolate Chip strip to tie in with where I mounted the tab. I also added a pearl to the flower on the tab. The giraffe is a coordinating stamp which can be found HERE. I stamped the giraffe using Chocolate Chip in on Poison Ivory shimmery cardstock and then cutting it out using my rectangle Nestabilities. I matted him with for the pink polka dot paper and then the green which I cut using my scalloped rectangle Nestabilities. I colored him using my Prismacolor pencils and then mounted the entire piece on the front using dimensionals.

I want to share some awesome news!!! Cindy Haffner has joined Jennifer, Maria and I on Mothers and Daughters Creations design team!!! How fun will this be?!?!?!? Cindy is such a talented stamper and a great person as well!!! Welcome aboard Cindy!!!

Don't forget that tomorrow is Saturday and that means another OCC Challenge! Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see what it will be ~ you won't be sorry!!!

June 18, 2008

Hopefully I can get this card uploaded! Our internet connection is having issues today! My card today is based on today's sketch challenge at SCS. Here is my card ~
This was a really simple card and the colors are quite different than what I usually use. The base of my card is Basic Black and then a mat of purple Core'dinations Black Magic cardstock. The purple is actually the back of the front black piece of cardstock which I ran through my Cuttlebug. I can't remember which folder this is but it is old! I sanded the floral embossed parts and when I did that, the purple came through!!! VERY cool!! I will show you a close up at the end of this post. The focal image is from Inkadinkado and was stamped on Whisper White cardstock using Basic Black ink. I colored using my Prismacolor Pencils and highlighted all of the birds using my Copic Spica Clear glitter pen. I mounted the image piece on first Basic Black and cut it flush to the bottom of the birds. I then mounted those on the same purple cardstock which I had punched using my Martha Stewart punch/embosser. I then matted the entire thing on Basic Black cardstock and had it end just under the punched dots so the Basic Black cardstock would show through. I added light blue MAMBI rhinestones and then mounted the entire focal piece using dimensionals.

Here is a close up of the awesome cardstock ~

I only have a sanding block so when I sanded, I did it carefully so I wouldn't sand the base of the cardstock so I couldn't do a really good job sanding the black off of the embossed images. It does look pretty in real life though!!!

I hope to upload my challenge card for Mothers and Daughters Creations tomorrow ~ as long as Verizon cooperates! Be sure to stop by!!!